He took a couple turns, and then I was being led through a set of sliding glass doors I’d never been to before.
“Eating what?” I asked warily.
“Just blood and food. You’re not allowed to fuck anyone outside of the lab,” he clarified. “Especially not the demon-hybrids. They’re far too valuable.”
The fact that they saw humans as invaluable left a bitter taste in my mouth. They were so callous. They didn’t give a shit that every time I fucked and fed, I was ending someone’s life.
“Noted,” I replied stiffly before walking into the room.
The moment I walked through the doors and looked around, a nasally voice stopped me. “Motley! Oh my gods, you look just positively awful!”
I blinked with a heavy sigh. I’d forgotten just how grating that annoying voice could be.
I’d also forgotten that Cheryl was even here. I’d been stuck in my own little prison, most of my time spent in pain and starvation, so I’d forgotten about the others. It almost scared me how I hadn’t thought of the other students once since arriving here. I was a loner through and through.
“How do you have real clothes? They just keep dressing me in hospital gowns,” I said as she strutted up to me in skinny jeans and a flowy top.
Cheryl was practically glowing. Her eyes were bright, and her hair seemed shinier than usual. It was like she’d spent the last month at the spa. “You like? It’s not my usual, but Stiles got it for me. I was getting really tired of those gowns. The color really washed me out.”
I stiffened at the mention of Stiles, but she didn’t notice.
“I guess the hospital gown thing doesn’t really matter for you,” she went on, looking me up and down. “You never did care about how you looked. But for goodness sakes, Motley, would it kill you to run a brush through your hair?”
“Oh, I’m sorry that I’m not glamorous enough for you. I’ve been kind of busy being held prisoner by Spector and forced to do fucked up things while they took away my free will,” I deadpanned.
Cheryl nodded, smoothing down her blonde bob. “It’s alright. I’ll go ask one of the guards to get you something. They’re always very helpful for me,” she beamed mischievously.
“Eww.” I gagged at the implication.
She turned and flitted away, leaving me to look around the sparse space of the depressing cafeteria.
I saw a few Thibault supes sitting around, eating from plastic trays, but most of the people inside I didn’t know. There were only a couple dozen or so, but the thought that all of us here were probably possessed by demons wasn’t a comforting feeling.
“Here.”
I flinched in surprise as a woman with a hairnet and a white uniform shoved a tray of food into my arms. I was barely able to catch it before it could tumble onto the floor. I looked down, finding blood stew with floating pieces of meat and potatoes in it, and some kind of pudding. I think.
“Uhh. Thanks?”
The woman was already walking away, disappearing into the back room that had to be the kitchen.
There were plenty of empty tables to choose from, so I picked the one closest to the exit. It didn’t escape my notice that there were Spector guards stationed around the walls, watching all of us carefully. It also didn’t escape my notice that some of the other Thibault vamps were eyeing me, obviously surprised to see I’d survived.
Ignoring them, I lifted the spoon to my mouth, taking a bite. The bloody stew wasn’t the best I’d had, but it wasn’t the worst either. I sipped it slowly, my shoulders tense as I tried to gain my footing. I guess everyone just...hung around here? While I’d been dying in starving misery, they’d been getting clean clothes and eating food in here and talking to each other. They’d been going on as if this was just another extension of Thibault Academy.
“So you did survive, Motley,” a voice said, just as the three douche vamps plopped their asses on the benches beside me. Byron took the seat directly across from me.
For fuck’s sake. First Cheryl and now them? Couldn’t I catch a break?
“Yep,” I said, slurping more stew and praying he’d go away.
“Damn. I lost two hundred bucks,” Byron said with a chuckle. He exchanged a look with his friends. “I thought for sure that low blooded vamps would be culled through this shit.”
Offended anger tensed my spine. I felt my spider curl up within me, like it was crouching and ready to pounce. But I didn’t need my new demon bodyguard to handle these pricks.
“I may be low blooded, but Spector kept me locked up for longer because I was too dangerous. Too powerful,” I stressed. “They seem to think I can handle it now, but…” I allowed my voice to drift off, letting the implications of my statement hang in the air long enough for his eyes to widen.
Byron really was a dumbass. He got off on making people feel inferior, but when push came to shove, he was a gigantic pussy.
“You’re lying,” he argued. “They just didn’t want someone like you mingling with us. I have a higher level demon, you know.”
Within me, I could feel my spider bristle with amusement, like she knew there was no merit to his words.
“Oh, they didn’t want me mingling, alright,” I replied with a smirk. “They were too afraid I’d kill you all. Maybe I should prove them right?” I asked before leaning closer, letting webs form in my hands.
His charcoal eyes zeroed in on the ropes of silk that danced from my fingertips and started slithering toward him across the table like a snake. He reared back, his gaze fearful when he felt them start to wrap around his legs. A flash of him suffocating danced across my mind, and I knew exactly what my spider had in mind.
But of
